Archive of Our Own

If there was one word that people could describe Gally, it was that he was patient. You had to be when your soulmate was to be born two-thousand years later after you were. Being a fey had many perks; they lived long lives, they had powers that other species did not have, and even their caliber in general was just not in the same level as others. There were many perks, hence Gally did not find being a fey a total let down or curse in life.

He did find the long wait to be annoying, but that's okay, he didn't mind.

Gally had time on his side, so he can wait.

He's not going to lie that with so much amount of time, there was a moment wherein he had forgotten about his soulmate. Two thousand years, that's a long time even for his kind. The friends and families he has only had to wait fifty years to five hundred years the longest, no one had ever had to wait for a thousand, let alone two.

So he went with the flow, followed civilizations and generations come and go, took a lover or two, sometimes three, but he knew deep inside it was only to sate the aching wound of loneliness. Who wouldn't be lonely? There were times he even thought, fuck it, fuck soulmates, he doesn't need one because at one point in his life, he thought he had found that person even when they weren't his soulmate.

That lover eventually did find their soulmate and left Gally to the dust.

Well, they've stayed friends though, even when Gally is bitter about it. Though being an ex-lover-turned-to-friend with Newt is better than not having Newt at all in his life.

"Show me your wrist," Newt says casually as he grabs a hold of Gally's hand. Their closeness was something that never went away. It wasn't like Thomas had minded it anyway; that weirdo also liked physical contact that Gally sometimes found it odd. He would hug Gally just the way he did with Newt, which was a weird thing to do.

"How many times are you going to look at my wrist?" Gally replies back in a bored tone, but even if he tried to hide it, he knows that Newt can hear the excitement hidden in it.

"Don't try to act cool, I can see right through you, remember?" Newt says with a grin. He looks at the timer in Gally's wrist again. "Seven days and fourteen hours. Almost there." he places Gally's hand on  back to his thigh, "Not that long anymore."

Gally shrugs, "It's been too long. I'm not even sure how to feel about it." he sits back against his couch, trying to relax even when he's been feeling wound up with each day that passes, each day that takes him closer to meeting his soulmate.

Newt places his chin on the palm of his hand, his elbow resting on the chair's armrest. "Well, I guess everyone gets the jitters when-"

"I'm done!" Thomas yells out from the kitchen. The duo's attention diverts to the open door of the kitchen where Thomas is coming out with a wide smile on his lips. He has made his special carbonara, "Get the table ready. Chuck and Jeff not here yet?"

"They're running late, Tommy." Newt said as he made his way to the dining table, "Gally, help me set up the table." he said while gesturing with his head.

Gally got up from the couch. He thought Thomas gave him a good save to stop Newt from talking about his soulmate. He really did not want people nagging him about it. The doorbell rang, "That must be them.", Gally said before moving to open the door.

"There he is!" Chuck says with cheer, "Our soon to be mated friend!"

Gally frowns. It looks like this is all they're going to be talking about tonight.

The thing is, Gally doesn't want to admit it to anyone that he was a nervous wreck. He had been waiting for two thousand years for this person who has either been in hiding or was just born this century. He kinda dislikes the idea of his mate being so young.

'If they were born just this century, then how old would they be? Thirty? A hundred? I may as well be called a cradle snatcher.' he crudely jokes to himself.

"You're slipping, Gally!" Alby suddenly calls out to him as he gently and playfully slaps his shoulder, making Gally zone back in. "You thinking about your soulmate?"

Gally groans, "Not you too, Alby."

"Well, you're staring hard at your blueprints without doing anything about it." Alby laughs as he takes the pencil from Gally's hand, "You know people are allowed to use their leaves as long as they inform HR that they'll be meeting their soulmate soon, right?"

Gally begrudgingly takes back his pencil from Alby, "Whether I take a vacation leave or not, I'll still be meeting my soulmate, Alby. There's no need to use it on something as trivial as meeting my soulmate."

Alby hums, "You must really be that worried." he smiles as he takes a nearby chair, "I just don't want you stressing so much with both meeting your soulmate and working at the same time."

"I'm fine, Alby." Gally sighs, "It's nothing. If I meet my soulmate while working, then that's that. They're my soulmate for a reason. We're bound to meet."

"Well, if you're sure. On a different topic, though, how are the designs going?" he changes course as Alby takes a look at the blueprints Gally is revising. Gally is very thankful for the distraction.

"I'll have to take a proper look at the area since we're renovating. I also have to check how sturdy the foundation is that the previous engineers did. The old blueprints are a mess."

"Going on-site, huh? You need me to go with you?"

"Nah, just sign up the permission slip to get into the grounds, and I'll be good. I'm taking Winston with me. He says his mate works there." he opens the drawer to his table, getting out said permission slip. "I printed one out already. I know you know you don't need to read what I wrote."

"Your head's getting a little too big, Gally." Alby laughs as he reads through the papers Gally gave him. "Two week inspection? Are you serious?"

Gally shrugs, "The facility's foundation doesn't look as good as it was when it was first made. I gotta make sure I'm actually making the right measurements for the new materials."

"Really don't know when to take a break, huh?"

Gally grins, "Well, I'm pretty sure you hired me for my good work ethic and not for slacking off."

The thing is, Gally is fully aware that he's trying to escape the inevitable. He's burying himself with work because the moment he does meet his soulmate, he doesn't exactly know how he'll react. Would he get mad because it took so long to meet them? Would he be starstruck? Or would he feel a sense of completion in his life? Will he say those cheesy lines like 'Where have you been all my life?' because he has heard some of the most stoic people in the world suddenly turn putty and melt at the first sight of their soulmate.

Gally's lips make a thin line as he watches Winston greet his mate Frypan with a kiss. Winston always talks about his fiance working in the Haven Retirement Home. His fiance was a former chef at those high-end restaurants, and apparently, stress was a big factor; hence why he took it slow and decided to work at a retirement home. He had often heard Frypan tell them how fulfilling his work is now compared to before.

"Hey, Gally!" Frypan greets, "Been a long time."

"Well, you know me, busy-busy."

"Yeah, and you end up taking Winston with you, which I sometimes don't appreciate," he jests.

"It's not my fault your fiance is good at his job," he plays along with a laugh.

"Damn right I am!" Winston grins as he has in his hands a couple of folders and blueprints. "This is all I got from the storage room. Since Haven has been operational for fifty-six years with not much renovation, there's not much files about it."

"Yeah?" Gally grabs the blueprint Winston handed him, opening it up and searching for any loose or old material that they definitely needed to replace. He needed to asses personally as well the foundation of said home. "Can you walk us around the place Frypan."

Frypan makes an unsure gesture with his lips, pursing them a little, "I'm too busy in the kitchen, but Director Cooper did tell one of the nurses Minho to walk you guys around."

"Yeah? where is he?"

"Okay, so you guys are not gonna believe this," Frypan starts and Gally arches a brow at the other, "So, he kinda took a sick leave and Director Cooper is out of town."

"Are you serious?" Gally asks, flabbergasted, his mouth slight agape in disbelief, "How are we going to get around the area? Don't you guys have a maintenance staff?"

"Yeah, our nurses are pretty much all around, especially Minho." Frypan explains while scratching the back of his head. "And uh, maintenance kinda only visits twice a month since ya know, nurses like Minho are all-around."

Gally lets out an exasperated sigh; he didn't think this was going to be a difficult job. "Alright, so how long till this Minho guy comes back?"

"Well, how long are you guys going to be here?"

"We have two weeks to check out everything."

"Oh!" there's a smile on Frypan, "He'll be here in two days."

"Okay, two days, that's not so bad." Gally goes for non-chalant, but he knows his entire body suddenly thrummed at the information. Two days. Two days. This nurse Minho was coming back from his sick leave in two days, and Gally's mind is racing to so many thoughts and all of them leading to one conclusion.

Winston noticed Gally become quiet, both him and Frypan sharing a look before Winston cleared his throat. That seemed to quickly pull Gally out of his thoughts as he looked at Winston, "So, maybe we should get one of the other nurses to help us around?"

"Yeah," his answer is fast and distracted, as though Gally was only agreeing without really thinking about it. It took him about two seconds to let the words sink in before he snapped out of it and looked back at Winston, "I mean, yeah, let's go."

"Got anyone to recommend, Fry?" Winston asked.

"Yeah, Harriet's pretty much the only person other than Minho that keeps this place going," Frypan laughs, "Let me introduce you guys to her."

The rest of the day, Gally is distracted. He knows that Harriet had shown them around, her being knowledgeable in which parts of the home needed to be addressed and what she thought could be a place of improvement that would help the people residing here to be more comfortable. She also handed them a list of things that Director Cooper apparently had requested and was not able to send to their company.

"She said she wasn't able to give this to you guys since she was too distracted with her seminar. She gave this to Minho and well..." she stops, head cocking to the side, "I think you all know that Minho's on a sick leave for two days. So he gave it to me instead."

Gally checks the requests; it's pretty much a question if it would be recommendable to put a gazebo in their back garden, a request to restore their old greenhouse that looked like it had seen better days. Other than those two, it was the usual of checking building B's walls that cracked a month ago that scared the nurses and elderly, then checking the renewal of floor tiles at the bathrooms of building C, and a check of building A if there was anything their company could suggest in keeping it in good condition or if there was anything that needed to be replaced.

He works furiously the next day, constantly having his head either down in blueprints or corners of the home searching for any speck of crack in the old retirement home.

It was by his second day in the home that Winston had to grab him by the arm and talk to him to the side, "You're scaring the residents," he whispers exasperatedly, "Look, I know you're nervous that you might meet your soulmate here-"

"I'm not nervous." Gally replies back quickly and defensively.

Winston sighs and crosses his arms against his chest, "You know you're not fooling me, right? The staff tells me you're always frowning. Heck, even Frypan is concerned."

Gally rubs a hand against his face, fingers lightly massaging his temples in an effort to calm down, "Yeah, yeah, okay. Maybe I am a little nervous."

"Yeah, a little. " Winston mockingly repeats the word.

Gally glares, and Winston only keeps on staring at him. He was the first one to break, because Gally knows he's on edge. "I'm fine, I swear."

"Maybe you should relax for today and get a cup of coffee or pastry at the nearby cafe." Winston suggests, his head gesturing on the general vicinity where the cafe should be.

Gally scoffs, "And that'll help how?"

"Walk and get some fresh air. Because you're definitely making more work than getting things done."

Gally hated that Winston was right, and as much as he wanted to deny it, even he knew he was being difficult. His lips made a thin line, a rebuttal at the tip of his tongue, "Yeah, okay Wins. You're probably right."

Winston smiled at him, "If you don't mind, when you get back, me and Fry would like a cappuccino. The Brewery has some of the best coffees."

Gally laughs, "You just wanted me to play delivery boy, huh?"

"Well, at least it gets you out to go cool off your head." Winston lightly pushes Gally, "Now, get out of here."

Gally makes it out of the retirement home. Winston is probably right that he needed something else to distract him. It had taken his everything to not go around and ask about this Minho guy, 'he might not even be my actual soulmate.' he muses internally and that makes him frown. He had been too preoccupied with this guy that he had never even met, and he might not even be Gally's soulmate.

This entire business trip is getting him on edge. He knows that there was a possibility that his soulmate may work in the Haven Retirement Home, but there was also the possibility that they would be someone who visited their relative in the home, someone walking by outside the home when Gally surveying the area, 'or they could be someone working in the cafe.'

There are just way too many possibilities and Gally refuses to think that meeting his soulmate was making him this nervous and a wreck.

'Did everyone feel like this before meeting their soulmate?' he says as he looks around the streets. Imagining that he would be meeting that person as he walks to the cafe, even when there's at least twenty hours before he and his soulmate would meet. Gally looks down on the countdown on his wrist again, 'I thought after two thousand years, I'd be calmer about this meeting.' he thought to himself while walking.

He makes it to The Brewery, inhaling the delicious scent of coffee that immediately greeted him as soon as he opened the doors. Winston was right; he probably needed something to take off the edge, and that fifteen-minute walk did help him somehow.

He ordered a macchiato and a cheese bagel. He guesses a light snack would be fine since he really needed something to distract him. However, when he was about to pay for his order, he heard one of the employees say something to the cashier.

"I heard Minho is coming back tomorrow." they say, "You're meeting your soulmate tomorrow right? And you've never met him before."

"Don't distract me, I'm working," the cashier said, but Gally could see his smile, "Is there anything else you'd like to order, sir?" he asks Gally, directing his attention to him this time.

"Oh, uh-" he takes out his card, "Nothing else."

The cashier takes his card and he can hear the barista continue off, "Minho is really good looking. If he's your soulmate, that means you'd be working so close to him that you guys will be seeing each other everyday!" the barista says giddily, and Gally can see the cashier man blush.

Something inside Gally deflates, and for some odd reason, he doesn't like it. If he had not gone to this cafe, maybe this man in front of him would be his soulmate? Their count down is pretty much the same, and the guy in front of him is cute.

He quietly takes a tray full of his order, making it to the small booth close to a window. He looks out as he carefully takes a sip of his coffee.

'I shouldn't think about this too much,' he chastises before talking a bite of his bagel.

Less than an hour before the countdown.

Gally is quiet as he's checking out the foundation of where the resident's rooms are. He's at building A where the structure is in better shape than the others. He guesses because this is where the residents sleep in and get in-patient care, hence why they tried to make it as comfortable as possible.

"The wood here is pretty old; we'll have to rip them all off, then replace them with a sturdier one, probably utile since it's more in-line with the home's budget. Get every window one, then finish them off with laminated glass." Gally tells Winston who was taking notes.

"We can go with toughened tempered glass instead," Winston suggests.

"I'm not sure if it's within the home's budget."

"I got a new supplier that Alby's checking out. They're good and can give us a better discount than our current supplier."

"Huh," Gally says as he looks at Winston, "If Alby approves, then yeah, that's definitely better."

'What am I doing still being inside this retirement home?' he asks himself internally, 'Am I really going to meet my soulmate here? What the hell am I doing? Don't tell me my soulmate is going to be some old guy living in this retirement home?'

That idea horrifies him for a split-second, 'Please don't let them be human, please don't let them be human,' that thought repeats over and over again in his mind. He doesn't know how he'd be able to handle that. He doesn't even know how the other feys have lived by going hundreds of years after their human soulmate has died.

His brows furrow, lip making a thin line again, as something awful starts churning in his stomach to the point that it's making him feel a bit sick. Winston has been noticing it, but has decided not to point it out. Winston himself is probably wondering as well why Gally is still here. He's probably also questioning how the hell Gally is supposed to meet his soulmate here.

A couple of minutes later, and they hear running. A couple of people are panicking, and he could hear someone say call the nurses.  

Gally and Winston's attention quickly directed to the noise, the two of them checking it out as a woman came out of one of the rooms, "Please help me! My uncle! He's having an attack!"

Gally quickly ran towards the room; he turned behind him for a second, giving Winston the blueprints he held. He could hear somebody holding who he thinks is the old man having a heart attack, a man trying to support him to not fall down on the floor.

"Minho! Minho!" the woman screams.

The moment he heard that name did his heartbeat run even faster after the adrenaline rush of hearing someone go into a heart attack. For a split-second, Gally's eyes were on his wrist and he could see the countdown of five seconds on it. He turns around, seeing a nurse before his attention unconsciously moves to the old man that was being held by the nurse.

Somebody was holding the old man's wrist and he could see the number 00:00:00 on the man's wrist as he locked eyes with who he thinks is a dying man.

Shock.

Confusion.

What the fuck is happening.

The old man is on the floor, his eyes closing as the nurse is holding him by the chest and is slowly putting him down on the ground. "Give me some space!" the nurse said as started to do hands-on CPR. "Come on, come on!"

Gally watches the old man on the floor and the nurse. He stays on where he stood, watching the scene before him where the nurse gives up, checks the time on his wristwatch, and tells his colleagues and the woman crying that her uncle had died.

What the fuck.

What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck.

Gally's staring out into the walls as he and Winston were seated in one of the living room couches close to the bedrooms.

'My soulmate's dead.' was all he could think of; 'I met my soulmate and he died right in front of me.' he thinks it cruel and why the heck did he meet his soulmate when he's an old man and dying.

'But that's impossible; that shouldn't be possible.'

Later, when everyone had calmed down enough, they were still seated at the living room where Frypan puts a cup of coffee in front of Gally and Winston; "Sorry you guys had to see that," he apologizes.

"That was scary. I didn't think that kind of thing happens here."

"It's not that rare, but it does happen. This is a retirement home," Frypan says as he sits with them, "You alright, Gally?"

Gally didn't respond, and Winston had to put a hand on Gally's shoulder to get him back down to Earth. Gally blinks a few times, looking over to Winston's hand on his shoulder, before finally looking at his friends. "Gally, you good?"

"I-" he starts, but he feels like there's something stuck in his throat. "I don't know, I've never seen anyone die in front of me before."

Winston pats his back, not knowing how to comfort Gally.

"I'm sorry you guys had to see that," an unfamiliar voice says, and Gally looks up to see the nurse from earlier. "I'm Minho," he stretches a hand out to Gally, "I really wish we met on better circumstances."

'Ah, this is the Minho who I thought would've been my soulmate.'

"Yeah, me too," he takes Minho's hand and shakes it.

"So, I know I'm supposed to take you guys around and get to know you better," Minho says as he shoves his hands in the pocket on his pants, "But I need to help out with George's death certificate. So, I'll have to help you two out tomorrow."

"George, his name was George?"

Minho nods, "Yeah, George Carter."

'George Carter, at least I know his name.'

"It's okay, we probably should call it a day for now," he looks to Winston, "We'll just finish this tomorrow."

Winston nods, "We have a lot of time, I'm sure Alby wouldn't mind."

'This is fucked up.' Gally mulls as he drives his way back to The Haven Retirement Home. He had spent all night long researching about soulmates where one of them died upon meeting, and he has seen nothing about it. There were stories on the internet, but none of them are verified or seem to be true.

He didn't think it would be possible, but here he is with a dead soulmate who he never even got to talk to. 'I waited two thousand years for this? Just for him to die in front of me?' he doesn't even know how to feel about, or the fact that his soulmate had been an old man living in the retirement home who already had an entire lifetime before meeting Gally. 'Why couldn't I have met him earlier? Why did I meet him just now? What kind of fucked up thing is this?!'

He's angry as he parks his car and makes his way back to the retirement home. He's been feeling tetchy since last night, and he doesn't know how to keep his cool. He sees that Winston is already there with his fiance, and something about seeing happy couples irk him.

"Morning Gally-" Winston stops as he narrows his eyes at Gally, "You look like shit," he points at his own eyes, where Gally's eyebags are at, "They're way darker than usual."

"I don't want to talk about it," Gally sighs tiredly.

"Well, yesterday was too much," Frypan agrees with him. "Minho's here, he should be at the living room helping out the residents," he gestures for the duo to follow him, and Gally makes it back inside the retirement home.

'Maybe George wasn't my soulmate? Maybe it was someone else? What if it's Minho?' he has been thinking the same thing over and over again last night, 'But what was that on the old man's wrist? Why did his wrist also show the zero countdown?'

Gally looks down at his wrist. It's now clear with no numbers; he didn't think he'd ever see it be clear. They make it to the living room, and he sees the nurse Minho laughing along with one of the residents.

'Why couldn't my soulmate be that guy?' he thinks to himself, finding Minho look handsomely beautiful with that smile on his lips.

Frypan calls out to the other, Minho looking over to them and Gally swears he felt his heart do somersaults in his chest as Minho makes his way to them, "Morning guys," he says as he looks at both and Winston, "You guys good for a tour today?"

'Even his voice sounds attractive,' he muses and he watches Minho, one second he was smiling, then he was frowning.

"Gally!" Winston suddenly elbows him.

"What?!" he practically hisses in a whisper.

"Are you sure you're okay for a tour?" Minho suddenly asks and there's concern etched on his features. "You still look out of it."

"What?" he feels himself flush in embarrassment, "No, no, I'm okay. It's just too early."

Minho nods and there's that smile again, "Alright, follow me then."

Minho tours them around the area, Frypan and Harriet weren't lying when they said that Minho pretty much runs the place. He took them to places where he thinks needed replacements, or rooms where the walls looked weak with what seemed to be a water leak.

"We had someone check that out and it's a burst pipe," Minho tells them as they all look at a white wall that looked like it had seen better days, "He said if we don't fix it soon mold will grow on it. I don't want the residents nor the staff inhaling that stuff."

"We did notice that, and that's definitely one of the first things we'll be working on when construction gets here." Gally told him.

Of course, Gally and Winston had already checked out half of the home, but Minho lists down everything Director Cooper said in her papers and more, even his own thoughts about the home where he thinks they could improve.

A majority of their tour was on building A alone, Minho was adamant of making the resident's home be as comfortable as possible before they started working on any other buildings.

"If I can make a request, it'd be better if we started with this building. Me and the others would work around moving the residents to building B. It may be uncomfortable for a while, but they were already told months ago in advance that there's going to be construction." Minho tells them as he places his hands on his hips, gaze on the hallway where the resident's bedrooms are, "I've been working on the makeshift rooms for the ones with dementia or the ones that need more medial care. So, if you guys can give me a timeline of when constructions will start, that'd be really helpful too."

He can tell that Minho takes his job seriously, just from the way he walked them through  down to his opinions on what could be done. Gally already knew about the areas Minho thinks they should improve, but it does surprise him a little that the nurse had the same thoughts.

Gally is again bitter, 'Why couldn't this guy have been my soulmate?'

"By the way," Minho starts as he comes close to Gally and takes out his phone, "I almost forgot, but give me your number." there's a cocky grin on his lips, however, Gally thinks there's a nervous end at his tone.

That was weird.

However, he could be flirting. If Minho is flirting with him that could be a sign? He doesn't want to get his hopes up yet, so he'll have to tread this carefully.

"Yeah, sure," Minho probably wanted his contact for work purposes, his mind begrudgingly thinks the opposite instead. He gave his number, then Minho called him so that Gally had his.

"So, if you guys want Frypan is getting lunch ready, but I'm craving pasta at The Brewery if you want to join me?" Minho asks and Gally feels his heart skip a beat again when Minho smiles at him.

"Yeah, sure. I'd like to," Gally turns to Winston, "How about you?"

Winston looks at him surprised, "Why are you asking me?"

"Well, Minho invited both of us." Gally looks at him confused as well.

"You want me to go with you two?"

"You can say no, you know?"

Winston is definitely acting weird, he's looking at Gally as though he had grown two heads. "Uh, I'm good. I'll eat with Fry."

"Your loss," Gally says as he roves his gaze back to Minho, "Let's go?"

Minho is looking less chipper when he had initially asked and wow, was Gally that much of a bore for him that he looked less happy that Winston wasn't coming? No, he could still be flirting and wanted Gally alone. But what if he did dislike Gally's presence alone?

This is annoying. He can't think properly.

He definitely should have tried to get more hours of sleep before coming back here to work.

The two of them walked to the cafe in relative silence, well, he thought it would be until Minho asked him, "So, what do you like to do?"

Gally looks at him, and he can see a flustered red on his cheeks. Gally really does not want to think about it, but Minho looks pretty with a blush and when the sun hits his face just right in this afternoon light. "You mean my hobbies?"

"No shank, who do you want to bang."

Minho snarks and usually, Gally would find that kind of attitude annoying and off-putting, but he hates how cute Minho looks saying that, "Well not you if you're gonna act more annoying, than cute."

Minho blinks a few times, looking at Gally before he bursts out laughing, "You're really something, Gally."

Maybe it's Gally's turn to feel his cheeks burning, but he instead looks away and clears his throat, "It's whatever," he shrugs as they make it to the cafe.

"It's Minho!" one of the baristas call out as she happily waves at Minho.

Minho rests his elbow at the table separating the customers from the baristas, "Miss me already?" a haughty grin on his lips.

Well, that makes this even more confusing. Why the fuck is Minho flirting with a barista? If he's doing that right in front of Gally, then maybe he really did have the wrong idea.

"You know it," she says with a wink, "Who are you with today?"

"Oh, this is Gally," he points with his thumb, "He's been helping out at the home's construction." Minho gestures for Gally to come over, "Gally, this is my friend Sonya, her girlfriend is Harriet."

"Oh, nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too," she smiles before diverting her attention back to Minho, "So the usual?"

"You know it. What about you, Gally?"

"Their cappuccino and the pasta you're having."

They make it to the booth Gally had sat at the day before. "I'm glad The Brewery is close by; I like to come here when I'm stressed out with work." Minho says as he rests his chin on the palm of his hand, "When things get too rough, I like some me time, ya know?" there's a boyish grin on him, much different from the one he had given Sonya earlier. "What do you do when you get stressed with work?"

"I walk around to cool off my head, go to the gym to redirect my anger," Gally answers back before taking a small sip of his coffee, "Oh, this is good. I guess Fry wasn't exaggerating when he praised it highly."

"Anything that Fry says is good is a common truth," Minho wags his forefinger at Gally, "I believe anything he says as long as it's with food."

"Only food?"

Minho hums, gaze moving to the side as though he was in thought, "Well, there a lot of things Fry's good at, he gives me a lot of good advice that I should be doing and they work out just fine most of the time."

"Yeah? Like what?"

"Why should I tell you?" there's a teasing tone in his voice, "Pay up if you want good advice." his fingers gesture to Gally to pony up cash.

"Alright, I'll bite. Next visit here is on me." the idea that he had just indirectly asked Minho to eat out at The Brewery again caught him off-guard, but he feels drawn to the other, wanting to spend time with him.

"Aw, you're already asking for a second date, Gally?" Minho teases and Gally can feel his cheeks burn again, he thought he could keep his cool but Minho keeps on pressing his buttons. Both in an annoying and cute way, "You've barely even wined and dined me today."

"Don't get a big head, this is a business lunch."

"Ah, so you're planning a dinner date for later? Real smooth." Minho counters as he cocks his head to the side, a devilish grin on his lips.  "And yeah, the head's pretty big. " he does not miss the innuendo, Minho keeps talking in double meanings.

He raises his hand and Minho eyes it, waiting for him to do something... Gally ends up flicking his forehead.

"Hey! What the hell?" Minho rubs a hand on his forehead.

"Yeah, the head's pretty big, alright," he says as his lips quirk up at the side.

Minho opens his mouth for a rebuttal, but their food was served. The duo said their thanks, and Gally eyes the pasta in front of him. "It's spicy tuna, hope you like spicy food."

Gally can smell strong chili peppers on the pasta, but he guesses that it's only chili pepper. He can handle this. "Yeah, I like it," he twirls the pasta in his fork and takes a small taste.

He should have asked first what Minhos' favorite was or how spicy he likes his food.

The moment he started chewing, he could already feel the spices burn his tongue and throat, making him choke. He quickly placed a hand on his mouth, not knowing if he should spit it out or swallow the fire that was apparently called pasta. His nose immediately became runny, and it was getting hard to breath when the spices flared up his nose.

"Oh, shit!" Minho cursed as he sat up, "You need milk!"

Gally quickly swallowed the pasta in his mouth.

Swallowing did not help at all.

He could feel his mouth become a furnace as tears pricked the corner of his eyes. His gaze zoned in on his cup of coffee, panic and adrenaline deciding for him as he tried to take a small sip.

Spices and hot beverages do not go well together.

His tongue burned up even hotter, and it was getting harder to breath. Minho had called out to the waiters and seconds later he was able to procure a glass of milk. Gally took big gulps, finishing the drink in seconds as he could feel the spices subside. Another glass of milk was given to him along with a glass of water. He immediately downed the second glass of milk.

He breathed in deeply, trying to calm himself as his face felt hot( not the fun kind! ), his nose runny, and his eyes teary. He was offered a tissue, which he accepted gratefully before blowing his nose. "What the fuck do you eat here?" he asked in a hoarse voice.

Minho's expression is one of contrite, "I'm sorry, I thought, I didn't-" he tries to form sentences that weren't exactly coherent, "Well, you should have asked first!" he quickly reasons out instead.

Gally coughs, grabbing more tissues that were offered to him, making himself look presentable before taking the glass of water. The drink is cool and definitely helps soothe the burn. "Never getting food recommendations from you again."

Minho looks sullen and Gally has half the mind to apologize, but talking hurts his throat right now.

He ends up ordering a different pasta, and the two of them eat their lunch quietly. The rest of the day was filled with talks about the home's constructions.

The next day both him and Minho were still civil with each other. The other is once again chipper, the food accident from yesterday forgotten. Gally feels relief, continues on to banter with Minho because hey, he's going to follow this guy's lead because he's pretty decent even if yesterday was a bit of a wrong step.

Also, because Minho's helping him with work, he needs to have a good rapport with the people they work with.

That's what he tells himself whenever he looks at Minho and think how good-looking he is or how attractive the muscles on his arms look and how they get accentuated all the more with his pristine white uniform that just seems to hug his body in a tight-

No.

Gally is definitely not thinking about that.

"Alright, so this time I promise the food is good." Minho smiles as he once again ordered from The Brewery but asked for them to deliver it to the retirement home instead. They're at the garden, close to the gazebo where some of the residents like to stay at in their free time. Right now, there was only a couple of them sitting by the bench enjoying the afternoon sun.

The ones at the table are him, Minho, Winston, and Frypan(who's taking his well-deserved lunch break).

"Oh?" Gally says with an arched brow, "Is the coffee going to be spiced up as well this time?"

"Haha, you're hilarious. Obviously, it's both the drink and utensils this time." Minho replies back with a roll of his eyes as he sets down the take-out, "Don't be a sourpuss, I got you the steak you wanted." Minho says with a wink.

"You got it because you asked me this time." Gally laughs by a little exhale through his nose. He feels fond by the action. "You still got your spicy pasta?"

"You know it!" Minho quickly takes out the tupperware his pasta was in, "Food only for the best."

"I do not know how you get them to make that pasta so spicy!" Frypan comments as he takes out the rest of the food for him and Winston, "I swear, when you ask me to make you food I oughtta put more than a bowl of peppers in one serving."

"The spicier the better," Minho nods as he continues to take out the orders of drinks and give it to everyone.

"You got my favorite!" Frypan says as he opens up his food.

"Only the best beef ragu for my fiance." Winston says as he steals a quick kiss to Frypan's cheek before focusing on his food, "And of course, a club sandwich for me."

"You know, I keep telling you to eat more than a club sandwich."

"Here we go again, It's a small snack, then another small snack."

"Yes, but you need to eat more than just a club sandwich. I make more than just club sandwiches, and you eat them, but I don't understand-"

"Fry, let me eat my club sandwich in peace. I have no complaints about eating small portions-"

Minho and Gally watch the duo argue about the most mundane thing. Gally takes a sip of the macchiato he ordered before whispering to Minho, "Are they always like this?"

Minho takes a big bite out of his pasta before nodding, "Yeah, every single time Winston visits. I swear, they argue about the smallest things, like last time they argued about the color of Winton's shirt button."

"No shit?" Gally asks in disbelief as he looks at Minho.

"Yeah, no shit."

Gally laughs through his smile before focusing back on his food. The two of them watch Winston and Frypan argue about club sandwiches for the entirety of Frypan's break.

The rest of the day, Gally feels better. He's starting to think that he maybe got it all wrong. He should probably ask Minho. That's what he's been thinking the entire time, ever since he saw the zeroes on that old man's wrist.

It's stupid that he would meet his soulmate at the exact time that they're going to die. It just didn't sound plausible, and Gally has done all the research that he can. He should have probably asked Winston about this too; he should have talked to Winston about this.

Better yet, he should definitely call Newt too.

He sends out a quick, 'Hey, you and Thomas have time for me in the weekend?'

Sending the message alone was already grating on Gally's nerves. But, he'd probably need someone to talk to once he finds out about Minho. If Minho is his soulmate, then he'd send a quick nevermind to Newt and reschedule. He'd definitely want to use his weekend getting to know his soulmate instead.

However, on the off chance that Minho is not his soulmate... Well, Gally did need someone to drink moonshine with and complain to.

Besides, Newt and Thomas can probably help him in the ranting department, then finding out who the fuck is his soulmate exactly.

Once the initial shock of the previous day's events has been digested, Gally thinks his mind is clear enough to think properly. Panicking over a dead soulmate was one thing, but after calming down and trying to think of logical answers, he surmises that his eyes met with somebody else who wasn't that dead man in front of him.

He puts the memory of seeing the old man's wrist become zero into a box and shelves it for now. There has got to be a logical explanation for this, and Gally will get to the bottom of it. Right now, his concern is finding out if Minho is his soulmate.

He waits till they finish work. He had already said good-bye to Winston and Frypan earlier when they went home. Gally clutches tight at the car keys in his hands, it's something that makes him feel grounded at the moment, something solid to hold onto as he watches Minho talk to someone on his phone.

He's in front of the retirement home, laughing at something his caller had said, and Gally's not going to deny that it makes his heart thump hard in his chest when he sees that smile.

Somewhere he hears a child's giddy scream and one second later, he sees a kid no older than five years old running towards Minho.

"Princess!" Minho greets as he opens his arms wide and the child quickly jumps to him. "I missed you!" he proceeds to smother her cheeks with kisses, and the little girl giggles in his arms. "Hey, what took you guys so long?" Minho asks as a woman with short bob black hair and tanned skin goes up to Minho, she's holding a baby in her arms and Minho coos at the infant.

Gally feels a lump in his throat, something caught and making it hard to breath. He grips harder at the car keys and watches the scene in front of him.

'Married?' his mind surmises as he grits his teeth, walking away from the scene, 'I don't remember a ring on his finger, but maybe I missed it?' he closes his car door with a harsh slam. 'Not Minho, maybe one of George's relatives.' he comes into conclusion as he drives away from the retirement home.

It's Friday, and Gally wants to ask about the relatives George was with when he died. He remembers a woman and a man. He can't recall their faces properly, but what scares him is if it's not either of them. If they knew they were supposed to meet their soulmate that day, then one of them should have come back to the retirement home and asked about Gally.

He thinks maybe they're in mourning, that they could not be bothered with meeting their soulmate after experiencing such a tragedy. Gally can give some grace if that was the reason, besides, they probably don't want to see someone who was with the death of their Uncle.

'Huh, uncle, I remembered that part but not much with the relatives that were there.'

He wants to ask Minho directly about this matter, maybe ask for his help in locating the relatives. He can ask for their names, but any other information would be illegal. He knows it would be client-patient confidentiality, and he'd have to get the proper documents to actually ask more information about George's relatives.

Something in his chest tightens at the idea of having to ask Minho about such information. He's still utterly disappointed by the fact that Minho is not his soulmate, but he knows that once he meets his actual soulmate properly, he'd feel differently and be relieved at finally having the time to get to know them.

He waits until the end of the day, Minho had mentioned something about having to stay in late due to work. Gally pretended to be busy, checking stuff that he already knows have been checked and he knows that Minho knows is already good.

"Are you waiting for me?" Minho finally asks when it's around a quarter to eight.

Gally swallows, all of a sudden nervous that Minho is in front of him. "Yeah, I actually have something to ask you," he says, voice bashful as he looks away, "It's kinda important."

"Sure, can you wait for me in the living room? I'm just finishing up."

Gally nods and sits himself at one of the couches. He can hear the rain outside getting harder and harder. He checks the internet to see if there'll be a storm. If there's a storm it's a good thing that tomorrow's a weekend. As much as he wanted to get that information from Minho, he'd have to inform HR first about getting the proper documents to get information about his mate.

He also wanted to drown in his sorrows with Newt and Thomas. He might or might not rant about how beautiful Minho looks and how he's a cheeky bastard that makes Gally's heart race and that Gally is definitely not enamored by him being a sarcastic little shit.

He sees Minho come out from another room. He's looking worried with his brows furrowed, something bothering him so much that there's a frown on his lips. "Sorry about that-" Minho starts when a sudden flash of light with a thunderous sound makes him stop.

Gally watches Minho's eyes widen, his body hunching and looking smaller. He could see his lips tremble and he knows that if he doesn't help stabilize Minho the other might fall.

"Hey," he holds onto the other's arms, leaning down so that he can check Minho's facial expression, "You okay?"

"I uh-" he swallows as he tries to avoid Gally's gaze, "It's just,"

Another flash of thunder erupted from the skies, its sound just as piercing as the one before it.

Now that he was holding Minho, he could feel the other's body tremble at the sound, a quick action before he could feel Minho tightening his body against himself.

"Hey," Gally calls out softly, one hand on Minho's cheek so that the other would look into his eyes, "Let's get you down on the couch." he leads the other to the couch, making Minho sit down and having Minho in such close proximity has him realizing that the other is afraid.

Definitely not from the rain, but he's sure that it's from lightning.

"Hey," he has Minho looking back into his eyes, "What do I need to do?"

Minho's eyes blink a few times at the question, and Gally can see that there's panic and confusion there, "What?"

"What do you need me to do? Is there something to distract you or maybe put on some earphones and listen to music?"

"Oh, I uh-" Minho starts and it's getting hard for him to form full sentences, "My earphones." he tries to grab them from his pockets, but his eyes widen again in worry when he couldn't find them. "They're gone."

"That's okay, maybe you forgot them somewhere." Gally says instead in a calm and collected voice that has Minho looking up at him in distress, silently asking for help. Gally takes out his own earphones from his pant's pocket, "Here," he puts the earphones on Minho, "I don't know what songs you listen to, but I'll play this loud for you."

He takes out his phone, letting MInho hold onto it so that the other can adjust the volume. Minho immediately puts it up to the highest level. Gally holds Minho in his arms, keeping him steady.

He sees Minho focus on Gally's phone, eyes gazing at nothing but the music player where it shows the song Gemini by Sponge Cola playing.

'Let me know if I'm doing this right
Let me know if my grip's too tight
Let me know if I can stay all of my life
Let me know if dreams can come true'

It takes until Sunday night for Newt and Thomas to come over to his place. He had already started drinking his moonshine alone before the duo had arrived, so it was no surprise that he was already a bit tipsy when he answered the door.

"I take it the meeting did not go well," Newt comments, worry heavy in his tone. Newt and Thomas helped Gally back inside, letting him fall back on his living room couch.

Neither commented on the amount of moonshine that was prepared on the coffee table.

"Please tell me you met your soulmate who's a total asshole." Thomas said as he checked all the bottles, glad that Gally had only drank two of them. Gally's alcohol tolerance is high, but he never starts drinking alone when he invites people over. This must have been really serious for Gally to start drinking before Newt and Thomas had arrived.

Gally scoffs, "If I even really met them," he says as he grabs the two empty glasses on the table and starts to pour alcohol for Newt and Thomas.

"Tommy, can you go in the kitchen and grab some water for Gally?"

"Yeah, I'll go ahead and grab some snacks too." Thomas disappears into the kitchen, and Newt focuses back on Gally.

"Alright, once Tommy gets back, you'll spill."

Gally chuckles mirthlessly, "Honestly, I told you this soulmate thing was bullshit," he says as he takes another drag of his moonshine. "But I'll still check it out."

Newt looks at Gally confused, but luckily Thomas came back quick from the kitchen. "Here, this is for you," he gave Gally a glass of juice instead of water, "Get that awful taste out of your mouth." he hands a bag of chips to Newt, "So, what got stuck up your ass this time?" Thomas asks as he takes the glass of moonshine Gally poured for them.

Gally snorts, "How nice of you,"

"You know me and Tommy love free moonshine and hearing all about your very serious and very precise stories." Newt teases as he grabs his own glass and lifts it up, waiting for the other two to cheer their glasses.

Gally and Thomas clink their glasses with Newt before the three of them drink till there was none left in their glasses.

"Alright, all cards on the table, talk to us." Newt pushes on as he gestures with his glass for Gally to start ranting.

"I think my soulmate's dead," he starts off as he rips open the bag of chips.

Newt and Thomas stare at him with wide eyes, wanting to know if they heard him right.

"Dead?" Thomas repeats what Gally said.

"Yeah, dead."

"Wait, wait," Newt stops the two of them with a hand, "What do you mean dead?"

Gally shrugs, as he looks away and explains, "I mean, I hope they're not, but I kinda saw someone die right in front of me when my countdown turned to zero."

"You what!?" Thomas all but blurts out in disbelief.

Newt gestures for his boyfriend to calm down, Newt having the same expression of shock but not wanting to escalate things yet.

"Alright, so you told us that you were working in a retirement home for this week," Newt starts off, and Gally nods, urging him to continue instead of Gally talking, "And you spent the entire day where you're supposed to meet your soulmate there?"

"Pretty much," he answers back, his lips making a thin line of chagrin, "One of the old people there started having a heart attack in front of me."

"And the old-" Newt starts, and he looks at Gally in the eyes, "Man?" Gally nods, and Newt continues on, "Died in front of you when your countdown went zero?"

"Yeah," his voice was low, quiet, even though Newt knew this was affecting Gally more than he let on. He's amazed that the other didn't start drinking bat shit drunk before he and Thomas even arrived.

"Well, that can't be right," Thomas butts in, "I mean, I've never even heard of a soulmate dying before you meet them. That's just impossible!"

"Thanks for sharing that Captain Obvious," Gally chuckles, finding it funny for some odd reason, "I thought the same thing. The old man can't be my soulmate. But it also kinda messes with your head that someone died in front of you."

"Well, I'd be messed up too if that happened to me," Newt sympathizes, "So? Was there anyone else with you when the old man-"

"George."

"Sorry. Was there anyone else with you when George died?"

"Well, Minho was holding him when George died in front of me." Gally admits as his fingers tap on his glass, trying to shake off the jitters he felt, "But, I don't think it's Minho."

"Why not?" Thomas asks as he gently grabbed Gally's wrist so that he can refill his empty glass with moonshine. Gally appreciates it greatly. "If he was behind George, then it's gotta be him, right?"

"Well, I wish it was him," Gally admits, and Newt narrows his eyes. He can tell that Gally likes this guy even if he's only mentioning him now, "But, it's all kinda confusing. I haven't really gone ahead and asked him yet since... Well, everything's kinda messing with my head, the construction, the soulmate thing, and then seeing someone die in front of me."

"Well, I'd probably be a mess too if all of that happened at the same time," Thomas agrees as he crosses his arms against his chest, "Why don't you think it's Minho?"

Gally scratches his head, messing up his hair a little, "I was supposed to do it last Thursday, but then I saw him with a kid and a woman holding a baby-"

"So, you saw him with a kid, then he talked to a woman with a baby,"

"Hey," Gally quickly defends himself as he points his forefinger at Newt in a scolding manner, "I told you, I was confused and definitely feeling-" he wanted to say emotional but stopped himself. He knows Newt already knows what he wanted to say.

"Alright, alright," Newt allowed him not to finish his sentence, "So, you chickened out."

Gally glares, but doesn't correct him. He hears Thomas muffle a laugh, and he lets it go for now.

"Well, moving on from Minho," Thomas shifts their conversation, "Who else do you think it is?"

"George did have relatives with him when he died."

"How many?" Newt pushes on.

"Well, there was a man and a woman. The woman said that George was her uncle and she was calling for Minho to save him."

"Alright, so either of the two."

"The woman?" Thomas' nose crinkles at the suggestion, "Do you even like women, Gally?"

"I could be persuaded." Gally cocks his head to the side, "I mean, I usually date guys, but you do see some people who's preference changed when they met their soulmates. Like, Winston only dated girls before he met Frypan."

"Yeah, I think I remember you flirting around with a couple of dames," Newt says as he looks at Gally, "So, what's your game plan?"

"Well, the office is closed right now, so I won't be able to make a request for HR to give me the proper documents to see the names of George's relatives. But yeah, I'll be working on it on Monday," Gally says, and there's a bit of a drawl, not entirely ending his sentence with a period that makes Thomas and Newt lean in forward waiting for him to finish. "Okay, kinda working on it by Monday since I'm too focused on the constructions of the retirement home."

"You're fucking with me?" Newt says flabbergasted, "You're trying to find out who your soulmate is and you're prioritizing work over it!?"

It was Thomas' turn to try and dampen the flames on Newt, "Okay, okay. I'm sure Gally has a logical-"

"I just need something to distract me, honestly."

"You're fucking kidding me!?" Thomas shouts back.

Thomas and Newt pretty much told him the entire night to focus on getting permission from HR to see George's relatives. However, he does listen more to the moments where the two of them suggested that maybe it was all a misunderstanding.

Maybe his soulmate is Minho.

Monday.

Gally feels like absolute shit, and he probably should not have gotten wasted with Newt and Thomas last night. Even Newt had suggested early in the morning(he and Thomas slept in last night), that Gally was not looking his best.

Gally doesn't care, though; he doesn't give a fuck that he looks like the worst engineer there is in the world. All he wants is to finish this job... and maybe see Minho as much as possible before he does go about to search for his soulmate once the documents are prepared.

He doesn't want to admit that when this is all over and done for, that he will miss the nurse. It sickens him, though, the idea that he had gotten attached over someone who may not be his soulmate. That in the midst of him searching for his soulmate, he had seen another person and thought, 'Why couldn't it be him?'

Winston had called in sick, which by the way, is rare . Why in fucks name is someone as workaholic as Winston calling in sick?

He steps inside the retirement home and immediately sees Minho. His heart clenches both in cheer and disappointment.

God, he wants it so badly to be Minho.

Minho looks at him with concern, immediately going over to Gally, "You look like you've seen better days," he comments as he puts a hand on Gally's forehead, "You're burning up."

Gally can only grin at him, "Yeah, I think I'm going to pass out."

He says before his sight blacks out and actually passes out.

The moment Gally wakes up, he sees a white ceiling with ocher colored crowns. The room is still spinning, his head hurts, and he's feeling so dehydrated that he feels as though he looks like one of those dehydrated plants on the internet. The ones where their owners said they tried everything to take care of their plant, but only to realize they majorly fucked something up.

He groans, tries to move his body only to be stopped by someone's hand, gently but forcibly pushing him back down on the bed.

"I'd rather you stay there than get up," that's Minho's voice, and he looks up to see him looking down on Gally. He still has that worried expression etched on his beautiful features, and it does nothing to help; actually, it only helps in making Gally feel even more sick.

"Thanks nurse, how bad is it?" Gally jokes, but it does not make Minho smile. Actually, it makes him frown more.

"What the hell is wrong with you? If you were feeling this sick to the point of passing out, why didn't you just rest at home?" he scolds, sounding angrier by the minute.

"Well, Minho, " he says his name for emphasis, and his very name slipping past his lips is something that Gally will miss once this job is done. He wants to tell Minho that he wants to see him as much as possible, that he doesn't want to miss one day of work because one less day means one less moment of ever seeing him again.

Not unless Minho's his soulmate.

"Are you going to finish what you were saying?" Minho asks impatiently and wow, Gally must be that out of it for him to stop like that. "Well, shank?"

"God, I can't believe I'm going to say this," Gally laughs in incredulity as he sits up. Minho does let him sit up, but he can see as the look of worry turn into a begrudging one. "But, I need to find my soulmate, and you can probably help me."

"What?"

"Well, not unless it's not either of those two and my soulmate is actually fucking dead," he says with words laced with venom.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Minho," Gally levels with him, "I'm going to need to hold your hand because I'm about to get emotional over this and I hope we never meet again after this." he says and Minho does actually let him hold his hand.

"That better not be fucking true, or else I'm hitting your head the hardest I can."

"My soulmate's dead."

"What?"

Gally takes a deep breath, "Unless they're not, and you're my soulmate, and I swear, if you laugh at me or get disgusted,"

"Again, what the fuck ?"

"Minho-"

"No!" Minho practically shouts that it makes Gally look up at him, "What the hell do you mean your soulmate's dead?"

Gally looks at him with wide eyes, hoping that he is wrong because somebody who is not his soulmate would not be that angry over what Gally is saying. "I mean, I saw him die in front of me."

"WHAT!?" Minho shouts back at him.

"George!" Gally shouts back, "Fucking tell me it's not George because I swear to fuck, I am going insane over it!"

Minho stops, looks at Gally with wide eyes, "George?"

"Yeah," Gally didn't know he was holding his breath till he was able to finally blurt it out, "I thought it was him, because our eyes met and I saw the zero countdown-"

Minho laughs.

Gally is both too shock, surprised, and offended by it but he can't help it when his heart yet again skipped a beat when he sees Minho laugh.

"You idiot!" Minho tells him, teary eyed from trying not to laugh too hard, "You stupid shucking idiot!"

"Minho you-" he doesn't get to finish his sentence when Minho cups his cheeks with his hands then plants a hard kiss on Gally's lips. It shocked him, it probably bruised his lips and it will maybe bleed a little, but Minho is kissing him and Gally cannot get over how right it felt to the point that it feels like seventh heaven on cloud nine.

"You idiot, you fucking idiot," Minho keeps on saying and laughing and Gally is getting pissed but also happy.

There are too many emotions Minho is making him feel simultaneously.

Gally wouldn't have it any other way.

"Okay, I'm an idiot," he says slowly, looking into Minho's eyes, and the other is grinning, like a million dollar billion watt kind of smile that is sure to breath life into his very being. "Are you?"

"Obviously!" Minho actually does smack his head, "What the hell man? Why the hell did you think it was George?!"

"Well," Gally's speechless for a moment, "I met his eyes and saw the zero countdown on his wrist."

Minho laughs again, shaking his head, "George, you fucker. One last hoot before dying, huh? You'd get a kick outta this." Minho looks at him, kissing Gally again, much softer than he did earlier. "That was a tattoo."

"What?" it was Gally's turn this time to reply in one word and a question.

"A tattoo."

"A what?!"

Minho's laugh is music to his hears, "It was a tattoo! It's his running joke, showing a zero countdown to basically anyone," he explains as his thumbs brush against the apple of Gally's cheeks, watching them get more color, less pale, and more red. "Actually, before his wife died, she also had a zero countdown on her wrist; it was their thing."

"So, George wasn't-"

"Duh, why did you think your soulmate would die as soon as you met them?" Minho's expression turned from one of delight to one of seriousness. "Please tell me you're not that stupid."

He's too happy by the fact that his soulmate is not dead and that it's Minho that he'll let those stupid little insults go.

"Well, I did think it may have been George's relatives, the other two?"

"Oh great, thank you for thinking of them as your soulmates first, before me, who was literally right in front of you but only with George as a human barrier." Minho grumbles to the point of looking pouty, "Are you that not attracted to me?"

"God no!" Gally covers Minho's hands with his own, "I just, I just thought you already had a soulmate."

"Huh?"

"Well," Gally frowns, he looks away, "Well, last Thursday, I saw you with a kid. You were holding her up, and there was a woman-"

"You're kidding me?"

"Do you want me to lie or to continue?"

"Honestly, I already know the answer." Minho moves up to the bed, getting into a better position that he's practically sitting on Gally's lap, "That was Brenda, college friend. I sometimes babysit for her and her wife Teresa."

"Oh," Gally feels embarrassed, "I'm sorry? I just, I don't know." he tries to finish his sentence and Minho silently urge him to continue, "I guess with work and well, seeing George die in front of me..."

"Okay," Minho pulls him close, wraps his arms around Gally and Gally already knows that this is his favorite place in the entire world. "Okay, that's fine. I actually thought you were disappointed with me being your soulmate."

Gally laughs as he hugs Minho back, hands gripping at the back of his shirt that he feels as though he's going to cry from happiness, "No, god no." he whispers, "I'm so glad it's you."

Late afternoon Gally feels better enough that he had suggested going outside in the gardens. Minho had tried to put up a fight, telling Gally, Minho's patient , that he needs to rest. Gally was having none of it though, what he needed right now was fresh air, good food, and seeing Minho under the afternoon sun.

"You know, I should have called or contacted you after Friday." Minho says.

Minho's on sick leave. Kinda. Sorta. A break for today since Gally just collapsed earlier today, and somebody needs to look after him, and who better than his soulmate?

"Yeah? Well, maybe I should have too, I was just too wrapped up in it. Brooding maybe." they're at the gazebo, sitting at the table where they last ate lunch at. Frypan had made a couple of snacks for them, and they're currently munching on a couple of healthy sweet potato chips.

"More like sulking," Minho snorts haughtily.

Gally rolls his eyes, fond and unable to get pissed off at the other, not when he's too happy that Minho is his soulmate. "Why didn't you, by the way?"

Minho takes in a deep breath, his fingers fidgeting with one another, "Well, I thought you were weirded out with last Friday."

"Last Friday? You mean about the thunder."

"Yeah..." it was Minho's turn to become bashful, "I'm just..." he tries to find the right words, but instead breaths out a distressed hiss at his inability to say so, "I think it's better to show, than tell." he sighs before gesturing for Gally to give Minho his hand.

Gally does and Minho unbuttons the top buttons of his uniform, just enough that Gally can see a pattern from his shoulders that look to be going down to his back. Minho allows him to touch his shoulder and Gally opens his palm and feels his soulmate's skin and scars.

"Let's just say me and lightning aren't the best of friends."

Gally smiles at him softly, "Well, my earphones are always available if you need them."

Minho chuckles, "I did like the song you played, it's been on repeat for me the entire weekend."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, I'm glad that the first thing I heard was a question if I'm doing this right."

At around five o'clock, Minho tells him that as much as he wants to spend more time with Gally, he had promised his friend Brenda that he'll be babysitting again for today. "I want to spend more time with you, but they're good friends, and I don't want to disappoint the kids."

Gally shrugs, "I don't mind. We have lots of time for each other after this day." he says fondly.

They make it out of the Haven's retirement home. Gally already sees the woman he saw last Thursday. She's now holding hands with another woman, Teresa he remembers Minho saying.

"Minho!" Brenda greets cheerily, "Anna keeps telling us how much she missed her Uncle Minho."

"Did she?" Minho says as he proceeds to carry the little girl, "Well, I love hanging out with you too, princess." the little girl giggles, hugging Minho as she buries her face at the crook of his neck.

"Is this who I think it is?" Teresa says this time as she looks at Gally.

"Yes, guys this is my soulmate, Gally."

Gally extends his hand to Brenda first, then to Teresa, "Nice to meet you guys."

"Brenda, I want you to know that this guy's an idiot." Minho says and Gally widens his eyes at the other's words. "He thought I wasn't his soulmate, that you were my soulmate."

"What?" Teresa laughs, "How did that happen?"

"You guys remember George right? I told you guys that I met Gally when he was having a heart attack, but this guy," he points at Gally with his thumb, "Thought George was his soulmate because he saw his zero tattoo."

Teresa laughs while Brenda looks horrified.

"Then he saw you bringing the kids to me last Thursday," Minho laughs and Gally proceeded to lightly hit his head.

"You're a shuck face," Gally tells him, but the story isn't so bad now. He thinks it funny too now that he knows that Minho is actually his soulmate.

"Oh my god, I am so sorry!" Brenda tells him, "I wish I knew! But this is my wife and soulmate, Teresa. I'm sorry for the misunderstanding."

"It's technically their fault for being idiots," Teresa smiles as she gazes at Gally.

"Okay, okay, we're both idiots." Minho says flippantly just to get it over with, "You're lucky I love your kids."

"Of course, who wouldn't love these precious little ones." Teresa says as she pinches her daughter's cheek. "But I guess we do owe you an apology, but she can't help but be cute and lovable."

"Minho just looked really good with kids." Gally says non-chalantly but, he doesn't miss the delighted smile that Minho sends his way.

Gally's phone pings with a message from Newt, asking him when they could meet up on the weekend so that Gally could introduce his soulmate.

"How about we go on a date on this weekend?"  Gally asks, not bothered nor even thinking about the people around them. He takes Minho's free hand that wasn't holding Anna and flits his fingers on the spaces between Minho's own. "Just the two of us."

"Well, it'd be hard to go on a date by yourself," Minho replies back as he lightly bumps his shoulder against Gally's, "But yeah, I'd really like that."

"As long as you don't make me eat those insanely spicy food of yours."

"That was one time!" Minho argues and they both laugh as they hold each other's hands tighter.